Biden in hot seat on second night of Democratic debates

Washington DC

Democratic front-runner former Vice President Joe Biden repeatedly found himself the target of criticism from many of his democratic colleagues on the debate stage Wednesday in exchanges that were far more acrimonious than in past debates.

But Biden was not a sacrificial lamb, sending sharp salvos of his own in return, particularly against California Senator Kamala Harris -- his principal centrist challenger at this point in the race.

Harris continued to launch attacks against Biden she first issued in the initial series of Democratic debates, singling out his supportive words for segregationist lawmakers while he was serving in the Senate.

"Had those segregationists had their way, I would not be a member of the United States Senate, Cory Booker would not be a member of the United States Senate, and Barack Obama would not have been in a position to nominate" Biden to be vice president, said Harris, who along with Booker and Obama is black.

But unlike the first time around, Biden was quick to flip the script on the former California attorney general, saying that during her tenure in the post, "there were two of the most segregated school districts in the country in Los Angeles and in San Francisco," both of which are prominent California cities.

“I didn’t see a single solitary time she brought a case against them to desegregate,” Biden said.

Harris shrugged off the criticism, calling it "simply not true" while maintaining pride in her record as California's top law enforcement official.

But it was that record that Hawaii Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard quickly seized upon in searing criticism.

"Senator Harris says she's proud of her record as a prosecutor and that she'll be a prosecutor president," she said.

"There are too many examples to cite, but she put over 1,500 people in jail for marijuana violations and then laughed about it when she was asked if she'd ever smoked marijuana," Gabbard said to raucous applause from the audience before listing off policies Harris pursued that the House lawmaker said disproportionately impacted minorities and the poor negatively.

"The bottom line, Senator Harris, is when you were in a position to make a difference and an impact in these people's lives, you did not," Gabbard concluded.

At stake for many of the candidates, particularly those like Gabbard who are polling low nationally, are rising campaign contribution and popularity metrics they will have to meet to qualify for the third round of debates in September.

Candidates must have at least 2% support in four qualifying polls and 130,000 unique donors in order to qualify for the next round of debates.

Biden, who is handily leading the pack in all national polls, used much of Wednesday's debate to highlight his role as former President Barack Obama's number two.

But he came under fierce criticism from Senator Corey Booker over deportations in that administration which he refused to acknowledge his role in when asked directly by New York Mayor Bill de Blasio.

"You can’t have it both ways. You invoke President Obama more than anyone in this campaign. You can’t do it when it’s convenient and then duck it when it’s not," Booker said.

Still, it was Booker who pointedly noted what he said was the schadenfreude President Donald Trump must be enjoying amid the Democratic in-fighting.

"The person that's enjoying this debate the most right now is Donald Trump, as we pit Democrats against each other while he is working right now to take away Americans' health care," he said.